It should be noted that BJP national president Amit Shah on Thursday reiterated his assertion that his party would bag 120-plus Assembly seats in the next elections.

Obviously referring to BJD president and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik’s “doubt” over his claim, Shah said “people who have become aged” do not see the reality.

Addressing a Press conference here on the second day of his three-day visit to the State, he ruled out the BJP’s electoral alliance with any other party.

The regional outfit BJD and the Congress would go down and the BJP would emerge victorious in Odisha in the elections “as has been the trend elsewhere in the country”, Shah said.

He described the BJD Government as corrupt as observed by the Supreme Court in the chit fund and mining scams.

Shah also questioned the State Government’s performance in the healthcare sector and remarked that the Dana Majhi and Nagada malnutrition episodes have “tainted the image of Odisha”.

He alleged that the BJD Government is not letting the Central Government help in developing the State. The BJP is “not angry over the BJD, but it is angry over the lack of development in the State”, he remarked.

The Chief Minister getting a best administrator award from a magazine does not ensure the State’s development, he further remarked.